Arc-type melting furnace have been proposed in the past for the melting of glass batch, slag, minerals, and other pulverant raw materials.
Typically, the arc is generated beneath a raw material layer of "blanket" which encompasses the lower ends of vertical electrodes and which forms an insulating top layer over the molten material in the furnace. Melting primarily takes place at the location of the spaced electrodes beneath the raw material blanket, and those raw materials which are located at the arcing locations melt more quickly and preferentially with respect to other portions of the batch blanket.
Arc stability melting efficiency requires that a body of unmelted batch be constantly present at each of the arcing locations. Thus, the prior art formation of batch material or batch blanket of substantially equal depth across the top of the molten materials has resulted in the melting of that limited amount of material at each arcing location, and the batch material from other portions of the blanket is either inefficiently melted or must flow to the arcing location before it can be melted.
One of our prior inventions provides for the feeding of batch material to an arc melting furnace so that the batch material is delivered to specific arcing locations within the furnace, and a more efficient, non-uniform batch material distribution is obtained to promote both the stability of the arc and melting efficiency.